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Main:Yevgenia Kuznetsova
Leningrad, Russian SSR, USSR |Row 5 title = Club(s) |Row 5 info = Levski Sofia, Dynamo St. Petersburg (former) |Row 6 title = Coach(es) |Row 6 info = Gheorge Videnov, Alexander Vasilyevich, Vera Kiriaschova (former) |Row 7 title = Current status |Row 7 info = Retired}} Yevgeniya Petrovna Kuznetsova (Russian: Евгения Петровна Кузнецова, also written as Evgenia and Yevgenia, born 18 December 1980) is a Bulgarian artistic gymnast. Prior to her move to Bulgaria, she competed for her native Russia. Kuznetsova is a 1996 and 2004 Olympian and European balance beam champion. Her best events were uneven bars and balance beam. Career Russia Kuznetsova’s first major international senior elite competition was the 1995 World Championships in Sabae. Kuznetsova competed on all-four events in the team final but the Russian team placed 4th. She did not advance to any individual finals. In 1996 Kuznetsova made her first Olympic team and was the youngest member. In the team final, Kuznetsova competed on vault, uneven bars and balance beam and helped the Russian team to a silver medal. In 1997 Kuznetsova made her second World Championship team. In Lausanne, Kuznetsova competed on all four events in the team final to help Russia to another silver medal. Individually, she finished 16th in the all-around final and 8th in the uneven bars final. Despite qualifying in 2nd for the floor exercise final, Kuznetsova withdrew. In 1998 Kuznetsova competed in her first European Championships, which were held in her hometown of St. Petersburg. In the team final, Kuznetsova competed on uneven bars and balance beam to help the Russian team to a silver medal. She qualified into the uneven bars final where she placed 7th and balance beam final where she won the gold medal. In 1999 Kuznetsova competed in her third World Championships team. In Tianjin Kuznetsova competed on uneven bars and balance beam in the team final to help the Russian team to anther silver medal. Despite qualifying in 3rd on uneven bars, Kuznetsova did not advance to the event final due to the two-per-country rule that was in place for event finals. In 2000 Kuznetsova competed at her second European Championships. In Paris, the Russian team won a gold medal but Kuznetsova did not compete on any events in team finals as Russia only used three of their five athletes in the final. She did not advance to any individual finals. Later that year Kuznetsova did not make her second Olympic team, a decision that was considered by some to be controversial. Bulgaria In 2001 Kuznetsova began competing for Bulgaria. At the World Championships in Ghent, Belgium, Kuznetsova and the Bulgarian team placed 14th in the team qualifications and therefore did not advance to the team final. Individually Kuznetsova competed in the all-around final where she placed 15th. In 2002 Kuznetsova competed in her third European Championships and her first as a member of the Bulgarian team. She helped her team to a 7th place finish and placed 8th in the all-around final. Later that year Kuznetsova competed at the World Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. She competed on uneven bars and balance beam, advancing to the balance beam final where she placed 5th. In 2003 Kuznetsova competed at the World Championships in Anaheim, California, USA. She and the Bulgarian team placed 19th in the team qualifications therefore not qualifying a full team to the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. Individually, she did not qualify to any individual finals but did qualify for the Olympics the next year. At the Olympics in Athens Kuznetsova competed on uneven bars and balance beam but did not advance to event finals. Kuznetsova retired from elite gymnastics following the Olympics. Medal Count Floor Music 1997 – “Caprice No. 24” by Paganini 1998 – Pink Panther theme by Henry Mancerini 2002 – “Marco Polo” by Loreena McKennitt